Watches

Achieving top speeds with piston engines is almost all about aero. Yes, thrust is key to get you above 100-mph. And stability is critical for being able to comfortably reach 150-mph over the flat, but actually pretty choppy, salt flats of Bonneville. Anything over 200-mph takes a seriously slippery shape. The drag forces rise to exponentially with each extra MPH at that point. You really need to be in as slippery a shape as possible. During the post-war maverick days of the late 1940s and 1950s, the engineers involved had to find the most sleek, ultra teardrop shape imaginable. Military …

Baselworld 2016 is ramping up! A who’s who of the timepiece world is converging in Basel, Switzerland from mid-March to show their new haute chronos. Bell & Ross unboxed a trio of adventurous new flavors on their well-loved design theme: the Desert Type. Intended as vaguely military, vaguely fashion-focused item, the pieces also celebrate an adventurous traveller’s life in general. A BR03-94 with the classic BR face style is the entry model of the Desert Type collection, and moves up to a full chronograph option of the same 42-MM size. A smaller 39MM BR03-92 rounds out the range with a slightly lighter and more unisex …

A new dream-watch just launched! The Bell & Ross BR-X1 is named to honor the Bell X-1 supersonic test plane from 1947 — and employs tech just as advanced for 2015 watchmaking. Four initial styles of the BR-X1 are part of a very limited-release initial collection. The favorite of ours is the Carbon Forge model — as it has a very unique marbled finish, tinted sapphire crystal, and should be much lighter than the typical BR watches. Milled from single pieces of alloy, the heft of their watches makes you feel important. But does take time to get comfortable with …

Welcome to the latest Bell & Ross showpiece: the BR 03 Rafale. Revealed at this year’s Basel World convention, this 500-unit run takes the Bell & Ross aesthetic and identity well into the future via all-new style and military technology transfer. The most striking element of this $6,200 watch is its case, which eschews the typical milled alloys and stainless steel of most watches from this hot French marque. By swapping metal for ceramic, the Rafale promises to be a real featherweight on the wrist. The big-watch trend takes some time to get used to on your wrist. You learn …

In the original article toward the bottom of this page, we explore an online rendering of a Bugatti Veyron-style SUV, plus created our own janky lift of the official Galibier concept from Bugatti. But neither of the below ideas is really as avant-garde as Bugatti would seek for any Super SUV with its EB logos attached. College of Art Center of Design student Ondrej Jirec has a very cool idea for a Bugatti SUV. Grand style, grand pace, and the name? The Grand Colombier. A nod to the explorer Cristobol Colon — who we Americans know as Christopher Columbus — …

We’ve covered the affordable side of the watch gift market with the Skagen Havene — how about the ultra-exclusive end. There are hundreds of ways to part with tens of thousands when buying a fine timepiece — but what about for the person who already has Bell & Ross watches, is bored with Rolex and Tag, and for whom the Cartier tank is too small these days? For these gents, we present this gorgeous watch with 24 time zones depicted by stunning hand-painted motifs in the edges of the dial. In the inner circles are the hour, minute and …